It’s Olympic Gold for US Women’s Soccer Team
Carli Lloyd celebrates her second and game-winning goal of the gold medal Olympic match.
In a rematch of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, the United States turned the table from last year’s result and defeated Japan in the Women’s Soccer Olympic final. Carli Lloyd tallied twice to give the Americans a 2-1 win over the Japanese. With the win, the US win their third consecutive Olympic gold in women’s soccer. It is the US 4th gold medal in the five times it has been offered as a sport for women in the Olympics.
The 80,203 gathered to watch the match at Wembley Stadium set a record for the largest crowd to ever see a women’s soccer match in Great Britain and the largest turnout for a women’s Olympic soccer match.
“It was such a journey. It was so emotional. It was up-and-down and we all did it together. We were such a unit and we leaned on each other when we needed to. We ended up on top and I’m so happy. We’re the best in the world right now,” said Alex Morgan, who assisted on the first goal.
The Americans got busy early as they looked to put Japan on the back foot. In the 8th minute of play Alex Morgan latched onto a ball and dribbled to the touch line, looping a cross over the goal box that looked like it would be full volleyed into the goal by Abby Wambach, who had 5 goals in her 5 Olympic matches so far. But it was Lloyd who came charging through the goal area and headed in Morgan’s cross to put the Americans up 1-0.
With the early but slim lead the US knew it couldn’t sit back as Japan was dangerous throughout the tournament, which they proved in the 17th minute. Nahomi Kawasumi took a shot that beat American keeper Hope Solo and looked goal-bound. Christie Rampone was able to get in the way of the shot to block it but the rebound went to Japan’s Yuki Ogimi who fired at goal only to be denied by a recovering Solo.
Just a minute later it was Solo to the rescue again when Ogimi headed the ball with pace towards the goal. The US keeper jumped high to her left and pushed the ball into the crossbar.
The US seemed to have a bit of luck with officiating again in this match when a cross in the 26th minute hit Tobin Heath’s arm as she swung it up to protect herself. The referee signaled to play on and the US avoided giving Japan a game-tying penalty kick opportunity.
Th US showed better possession again to start the second half and in the 54th minute it was Lloyd again who scored with an assist to Megan Rapinoe who fed her midfield partner through. Lloyd dribbled 25 yards and then created just enough room to launch a 20-yard blast that found the far post netting.
However, Japan was not conceding and continued to pressure the US. They finally got on the board in the 63rd minute after some sustained possession.
Shinobu Ohno played in a cross to Homare Sawa who was open near the penalty spot. Sawa struck her shot that beat Solo but Rampone was on the line to deny the goal. The rebound found its way to Sawa, which she calmly laid over to Ogimi passed the ball in from two yards out.
Lloyd looked for her third of the night when in the 82nd minute the midfielder came in from the left and tried to curl the ball around the defense. But her curling ball went just high of the upper 90.
The US had one last scare with only minutes left in the match. Rampone had a mental lapse and gave the ball up in the US defensive third allowing Mana Iwabuchi to walk in nearly uncontested. From 15 yards out she slammed a shot to the far post, but Solo was up to the task and dove hard slapping the ball away from goal and out of danger.
US coach Pia Sundhage, who was found after the match playing air guitar and singing along to Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA which was blasting over the PA system, had nothing but praise for Carli Lloyd, who was named Women of the Match. “I’m so proud of her because she played so many games and all of a sudden I thought she wasn’t good enough. Then she just comes back and helps the team tremendously and she proved that I was wrong. I love that.”
When told of Sundhage’s comment Lloyd said, “When someone tells me I can’t do something, I’m going to prove them wrong. That’s what a champion is all about and that’s what I am – a champion. I fought harder, dug deeper and I wanted to make all those doubters out there wrong and that’s what I did.”
“This was a year’s worth of work and the sacrifices all of us have had to make for our friends and families, for the players that didn’t make the roster, this goes out to all of our fans that cheered us on last summer and were equally as heartbroken as we were,” said U.S. forward Abby Wambach. “This year has been trials and tribulations, we lost to Japan a few times, and this win feels like everything has come full circle. I’m so proud of this team for never giving up. It was a team effort for this entire tournament and it shows what it takes to win championships — it’s teamwork and loyalty and trusting in each other.”
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As a friendly Canadian neighbour from up north, let me be the first commentator to say “congratulations” to fans of the U.S. team. Though I was gutted when Canada lost in the semi-final, I must admit that the best team in this tournament won the gold.
Now that the tournament is over, let’s hope that women soccer players in Canada and the U.S. have professional opportunities to play in the coming years. With the Women’s Professional Soccer folding, it’s not clear to me how the women’s game in North America will improve in the near future. It’s just not realistic to improve female players by relying solely on the college or amateur levels.
Brian / other readers of the site: Any thoughts on this matter?
I think the missed handball is very unfortunate, because it will be a focal point for a game that had 80,000 witnesses to two titans clashing in a critical game. The U.S. Women’s Team is the best womens squad on the planet. An older team to be sure, and maybe another nation can take that role.
The Japan team should protest two bad calls which should have resulted in TWO PENALTY KICKS. Why is it that the US team always benefits from the officiating? Even the NBC announcers were incredulous at the officiating today. Two penalty kicks would likely have put Japan on top of the podium today. In typical Japanese fashion, they don’t want to go there. They just put up with this. At least the Canadians had the guts to let the world know when they’ve been wronged.
I knew Japan was in trouble the minute I saw the four referees at the beginning of the game. They are the same four that officiated last year’s World Cup final, during which Ohno was called offsides in a 1 on 1 situation which would have resulted in a goal. Even at that time, the announcers showed the replay and said it was a huge break for the US.
I am really disappointed that the US players and Pia Sundhage doesn’t acknowledge that they benefited immensely from the officiating. It’s as if winning, even by cheating, is more important than fair play. Congratulations, Team USA, you can clutch your gold medals and sleep at night, especially Abby Wambach, even if your medals look a little bronze.
Richard, I see you’re still complaining about the Ohno offside call from last year. By the way, it’s offside NOT offsides. Here’s the paste for the relevant youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiIPe2mgTmk.
At the 21 second mark of the video, the announcers have the play stopped and draw the offside line. At 21 seconds Ohno WAS even with the next to last opponent as required to be onside. But guess what? At 21 seconds, Ohno’s teammate had not yet struck the ball. From that angle it looks like she has but watch the rest of the video and at the least even a USA hating soccer fan like you should be able to say the offside line could easily have been drawn at 25 seconds and even then it’s almost impossible to see if she’s off or on.
Go back to the 6 second mark and run/stop the video 3 or 4 times. It’s at a different angle and you still can’t see exactly when the ball is kicked. When you get to the point around 6 seconds where you know for sure the ball has been struck, Ohno is clearly offside but so what? You act like this is the worst offside call of all time when even with the benefit of stop action video it’s virtually impossible to make the call.
Run the video at full speed for the first 10 seconds and see if you can honestly say she was anything but off. At that point no one from the Japan team was complaining. Even the tv announcers who are among the most ignorant of soccer fans hadn’t questioned the call. The Assistant Referee was in perfect position. Assistant Referees do 2 things when deciding to make an offside call:
1. They watch the attacker and the next to last opponent
2. And they LISTEN for the sound of the ball being struck.
Since I’m sure you’ve never refereed even a Under 8 rec soccer game you probably don’t believe the Assistant Referee can hear anything at a loud soccer stadium but they can. I’ve refereed youth soccer games with parents screaming in my ears from 5 feet away and if I keep my concentration I can still hear the ball being kicked. The only person at a live soccer game qualified to make an offside decision is a properly positioned AR, and this one was.
People like you drive me insane. Had the AR left the flag down I wouldn’t have complained even if stop action video showed she was off. Close calls like these are made all game long and they almost always balance out. Only fools argue or complain about them. You have also ranted about the US/Canada game where the referee made 2 absolutely correct in Law calls and completely missed a US player get her head stomped by a Canadian player. Should US fans be complaining about this? Of course not. The referee was watching the action around the ball and simply didn’t see a blatant red card foul that would have made Canada play a man short for half the game but you say the US team only benefits from officiating.
Brian, the tv announcers, and you all are absolutely 100% incorrect to equate what happened in the 26th minute with Tobin Heath and the Canadian game handling call. I expected more from Brandi Chastain. The Canadian defender moved her hand up and towards the ball. Tobin Heath was moving her arm down and AWAY from the ball. Yes, her hand was away from her body but that in and of itself doesn’t mean it’s in an unnatural position. The way she was moving had her arm been close to her body she’d have fallen flat on her face. This is another important difference: the Canadian defender was standing in one place some 15 yards from the ball. Tobin Heath was 10 yards away and moving. I just went and stop actioned the incident 5 or 6 times and when the ball stops moving forward, Heath’s arm is behind her back! The ball either hit her jaw or the top of her shoulder which could be considered part of the “hand” but clearly is moving away from the ball. The male announcer said the referee said “play on”. I doubt she did. “Play on” means “yes, I saw the foul but I’m playing advantage” and there was no advantage for Japan here had Heath actually deliberately handled the ball. The referee IS making a motion to the players but it’s not the advantage signal. She’s telling the players “yes I saw what happened. It’s not a handling violation so continue playing.” Here we see another professional referee, in perfect position make the correct call and tv announcers and bloggers go ballistic.
Watch the next 10 minutes of the game. Ohno misses one easy shot and another Japanese player misses another and Hope Solo makes a terrific save. Japan blows 3 scoring opportunities but all Richard sees are referees cheating for the US.
Referees make mistakes. Even blatant ones. But it is beyond extremely rare that referees influence the outcome of the game more than the players do. I haven’t watched the second half of the final yet but even if the referee does blow a PK call that would have favored Japan AND even had Tobin Heath deliberately handled the ball, in the span of 10 minutes, Japan could easily have had a 3-1 lead at the half but for PLAYER mistakes.
Richard, stop watching any US WNT soccer games. They are going to win 90% or more of them. The referees will not cheat for them but that’s all you’re going to see so stop wasting your time. You only see what you want to and will never give this team any credit for being one of the best soccer teams of all time. But blog away anyway as your laughable rantings at least give me something to do at 4 a.m.
Woot Woot! You go, Keith!
Game, Set, Match to Keith
Well, thank you both!
Overall, I thought the match had everything a gold medal match should have. Even with the US up by two goals, Japan kept attacking and their goal late in the second half kept me on the edge of my chair until the very end. Both teams played some great soccer. Hope Solo made several great saves that only added to the excitement.
The big take away from the Olympics for me is the rise of the Japanese as a force that will be around for years to come.
Men and women, Soccer Boy. I remember when they were working their youth system and really reinforced technique with lots of Coerver method stuff. There is no doubt, the Japanese are beginning to be one of the more technically talented up and coming nations.
The Japanese team also has to replace some older players soon. They lack the pipeline the U.S. has. The U.S. has double the amount of girls playing soccer as any other nation. Even China had to regroup and haven’t replaced their great players of the past.
As for a women’s league? Well two have failed the past 10 years. People will go nuts for this team if they have “USA” written on the front on their jersey. Break them up and put “Boston Breakers” or something else and they might as well be playing in Siberia.
I don’t think a league will work until MLS gets involved.
Why does stamping MLS on it make a difference? I just don’t get that? It’s just a label.
The thing that will make a difference is running the league responsiblly and that means running it more like USL PRO and NASL than MLS which is how WPS was run. Too high of salaries and too high of operating costs.
@BQ
Actually, it needs to initially be run as an upgraded professional W-League by USL.
Anything woman related to league issues in soccer has been nothing short of a disaster.